While fortuna could signify good (secunda) or bad
(adversa) chance, depending on the context, the Romans personified
Fortuna as the goddess of luck, happy fate, and good fortune. In the
statue above the goddess is depicted holding a cornucopia, the symbol of
fertility and wealth. A temple to
Fortuna
Virilis stands in the Forum Boarium in Rome.
Sulla,
Pompey, and
Caesar
were popularly considered favorites of Fortuna, an association they
consciously promoted (e.g., the Sanctuary of
Fortuna
at Praeneste).

Fors Fortuna was an Italian goddess, the bringer of fertility and
increase. In classical times her worship was overlaid with that of Minerva and
the Egyptian
Isis,
and linked to the Greek goddess
Tyche,
daughter of Zeus, who presided originally over all happenings, good and bad,
but later was reverenced as Luck or Chance. Since Tyche was significant
to risky undertakings (competitions, the drawing of lots, love, sailing), she
was often imaged, principally on
coins,
sometimes with a ship's rudder in her hand (as below).